Oct 28th-31st

On Friday, after waiting for the elk to leave my car alone and leaving the campground, my plan was to drive around and down the eastern side of the Yellowstone loop until I hit the canyon road. Then I would take the canyon road through the park back to the west side and North again to head to Bozeman. I was desperately hoping to see a bear during my drive through the canyon. Unfortunately, I made it to the east side loop and headed south to find that the road was closed after Tower Junction. I had to turn around and head back to Mammoth Springs with my search for a free bear being unsuccessful.
I left Yellowstone and headed to Bozeman for the sole purpose of food, shower, and an oil change. I was surprised to find that I actually liked the small city. The oil change went smoothly and quickly. The shower was refreshing. And the food was delicious and filling with a great wait staff. Bozeman did exactly what I needed it to do. After that, I headed west to try to get as close to Seattle as possible. I made it to St. Regis before needing to gas up. I also to a small look around their gift shop gas station for presents to bring back to family and friends. I hit the road again and made my way to Spokane. I didn't feel like driving any further but it was still early, so I decided to see Inferno with Tom Hanks. I enjoyed the movie but prefer the book.
I woke up Saturday and headed for Seattle. I had an airbnb waiting for me so I went to check in there first. It was a great place to stay because it had a heated mattress and was located right off the Link Light Rail Line which brought me right into downtown. Well it would have brought me into downtown if I had known which stop was downtown. Instead I got out at the International District/Chinatown stop which was roughly 3 stops too early for where I wanted to see things. I didn't mind though because it allowed me to see even more of the city.
Somehow my lucky journey continued and the weather in Seattle was beautiful on Saturday. I walked up to the Seattle Public Market and walked through the first floor. Unfortunately everything was already closing down, so I continued on to the Space Needle. The view from the top was amazing. Again, luck was on my side as our elevator tour guide pointed out that we could see Mt. Rainier in the distance which is only visible for roughly a third of the year. It was just turning to dusk when I went to the top so the city skyline was spotted with lights from all the buildings and was quite a spectacular view.
As I left the Needle, someone caught my attention so I went over to her to see what she needed. She asked if I could take some pictures of her and her friends in front of the Needle so of course I obliged. I then my way towards a bar I looked up on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately it looked dead and not very fun so I continued on to see if I could wander into somewhere fun. I found a place that I liked because one of the waitresses was dressed in a clown costume. It happened that I walked into The Crocodile Back Bar which is a well known spot in Seattle. I sat at the bar and ordered a pizza and some drinks. Next to me there was a couple in costumes so I took a guess at what they were dressed as. She was dressed in the yellow jumpsuit Uma Thurman wore in Kill Bill and he was dressed as Fidel Castro. They were also from out of town and the bartender was giving them some suggestions on things to see and do so I listened too. She was a great bartender with a lot of personality and I had a lot of fun talking to her and the couple dressed up.
I then went to a bar called The Rabbit Hole where there were a lot of people dressed in costumes. I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me named Marco and Karina. They were from San Diego and in town for a small vacation. We talked for a while about my trip, places they had been, and about ourselves. They were incredibly nice and gave me their phone number in case I made it to San Diego. About five minutes after they left, I decided to head back to my airbnb. After a short railway inconvenience, I made my way back to the airbnb for the night. It was a great place to stay because of the heated mattress and the owner was very kind and courteous.
The next morning, after taking a shower and getting ready for the day I drove into the city to a parking garage that I knew would be easy to get to. I stopped at the Seattle Art Museum to see an exhibit by Yves Saint Laurent as well as all the beautiful art the museum usually had on display. After spending two hours in the SAM, I made my way towards a cafe that had wifi for their customers. I wrote up my last blog post and enjoyed some breakfast food and hot chocolates at the Bacco Cafe before asking the waitresses for some directions. They pointed me back towards the Seattle Public Market. This time I walked along the second floor which had many interesting shops. The one that caught my attention the most was Golden Age Collectibles which is a nerd's paradise. It had comics, paraphernalia, movie scripts, and other awesome things. It had been the only place I had seen scripts for sale so I bought a 4th generation script for Young Frankenstein because Mel Brooks is a genius.
I dropped the script back at my car and decided to head towards Century Link Field since I had tickets to the Seattle Sounders playoffs game against F.C. Dallas. I walked past the field first to see Safeco Field as best I could. I only saw the right field line before I followed the crowd back to the Sounders game. It had started raining so I bought a Sounders hat and scarf since my seat was in the rain. Seattle has the best MLS fans as far as I could tell. I couldn't help but feel like I was one of them and will probably take the Sounders as my MLS team. After the game and Seattle had taken a 3-0 lead into Dallas, I left the stadium and found the Cowgirl Saloon to watch overtime in the Cowboys vs Eagles game. I seemed to be outnumbered by Cowboys haters so I didn't rejoice too much when the best team in the NFL won. I then headed back to my car to sleep the night away.
The next morning, I headed towards Portland, OR. I made one pitstop to clean and organize my car but after that I made my to the Oregon Zoo. As you might be able to tell, I love seeing large wild animals. Unfortunately these animals weren't wild but I was able to take a lot of pictures of beautiful animals I wouldn't otherwise have seen.
After walking around the zoo for a few hours, I headed into downtown Portland. I donned my Where's Waldo costume since it was Halloween and headed out on the town. I stopped at Kelly's Olympian first a day enjoyed a few drinks before heading out to Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub and tying on a few more. I had a nice conversation with an Asian woman before heading out and winding up in Mary's Bar. Although I spent too much money there, I had a great time. I then headed back to my car to spend the night and sleep all the fun off.
That's where I'll leave the tale off, although I'm almost a full week behind my adventures. Currently I'm in San Francisco, but we have at least a full blog post before we get here. Hopefully I catch myself up tomorrow. As always you can find some small tidbits from my travels on my twitter or Instagram both @nyknicks167. I also promise a lot more pictures next time. Otherwise, take care and I'll see you very soon.